You Only Need This 1 Product to Take Your Makeup from Day to Date

In our ideal world, we’d have a crew of beauty and style experts work their magic on our tired 9-to-5 faces before every date night. Or at the very least we’d have a pro-level beauty product stash at our disposal every time we made the very last clicks on our keyboards and closed our laptops. The reality is that with our jam-packed schedules and non-existent Mary Poppins-type makeup bags, we don’t have the time or the resources for a major beauty reset. But I’m here to show you that using what little (time + product) you have ins’t such a bad thing. Scroll below to learn the one product you should always have on hand to effortlessly take your look from day to night, plus step-by-step instructions on how to get that glowing evening look in a matter of minutes.

The Day-to-Date Game Changer: Gold Eyeshadow

The cat’s out of the bag, you guys! We’re going to be using gold shimmer eyeshadow to amp up your everyday makeup look that, let’s all be honest, could really use a refresher come 3PM. You can use any gold shimmer eyeshadow that you desire. I went with Sidecar from the Urban Decay Naked Palette ($54) which is a more coppery gold. I like that it has a warm yellow undertone that gives you a beach-goddess glow, but at the same time, it’s still soft enough to serve as a highlighter. With just a few strategic additions of this shimmery stuff, you’ll take your lived-in look to a swoon-worthy level in a matter of minutes.

Prep: Start With Versatile Day Makeup

Typically my go-to day makeup is natural and fresh faced — an easy canvas to amp up and add to. For my eyes, I opted to go with a medium brown crease and slightly bold with my eyeliner on the lower lash line for a more playful look. For mascara, it is a two-coat situation for sure — gotta have it last all day and into the night! Now, hours later, you’ll be prepped to get golden and glowing.

Step 1: Make Your Eyes Pop

Add a swipe of your gold shimmer shadow of choice to your brow bones, inside corners of your eyes and slightly along the inside lower lash line, softening the application as you get toward the outside corner. This is going to brighten your eyes up quite a bit — the way the light hits the gold shadow at night makes them instantly dreamy.

Step 2: Highlight the Bridge of Your Nose

Using a flat synthetic eyeshadow brush, apply a modest amount of your golden shimmer shadow to the bridge of your nose. Make sure you really blend this in. Don’t stop here! This step is part of the bigger picture, so keep going!

Step 3: Get the Glow

Use a fluffy eyeshadow brush to apply the golden hue to your upper cheek bones and slightly over your blush. This is going to give you that luminous goddess glow that makes your skin look healthy, bright and radiant.

Step 4: Bring Out Your Pout

You can actually use this same shadow directly over your lipstick and/or lip gloss to give your lips a highlight. You only want to apply the shimmer to your cupid’s bow (the little divot on your upper lip) and to the center of your lower lip. This will make the light reflect off of your lips (hello, smooching on the brain!) as well as make your lips look bigger.

The highlights are very subtle, but make all the difference when you are in a date-night setting where the lighting is softer and will actually bounce off of you. If you are wearing a sleeveless or low-cut dress, you can even add a little pop of gold shadow to your shoulders and-or décolleté. Your date will be enamored with your radiance.

What are your quick makeup zhuszhing techniques? Share in the comment section below.